UK to send 350 soldiers to help African forces in Mali

Britain is to deploy up to 350 military personnel to support the fight against Islamic fanatics in west Africa.

About 40 military trainers are set to be sent to Mali to improve the Malian army’s ability to take on extremists based in the north of the country.

Between 150 and 200 more British troops could be part of a wider west African training mission; they may be based in countries neighbouring Mali such as Nigeria.

About 70 UK military personnel are already in Senegal from where a Sentinel surveillance aircraft is operating. There is also a small number of special forces personnel in the Malian capital Bamako.

The number of British troops in Mali could increase if a protection force for the trainers is required.

Other proposals discussed include Britain helping to build a logistics hub to beef up the French-led campaign in the Sahel region, although France has not yet requested such support.

Former Army chief, General Sir Mike Jackson, backed deploying British forces but admitted the campaign could turn into “protracted guerrilla warfare”. And while he said it was “possible” that British troops could get sucked into a long and bloody war, he added: “That doesn’t in my book mean to say we should not right now do what we have been doing.

“We cannot let states fail because we know from recent history that failed states just lead to very difficult circumstances, instability.”

British officials were meeting in Brussels today to discuss the precise make-up and scope of the EU training mission. A separate meeting was taking place in the Ethiopian capital Addis Ababa on the wider African-led mission against the Islamic militants and terror groups.

France has despatched 3,500 troops to Mali and its soldiers and the Malian army have recaptured the fabled city of Timbuktu without firing a shot as extremists fled into the desert.

Tuareg fighters in northern Mali also claimed that they have seized control of the strategic city of Kidal and seven other northern towns from Islamist extremists.

But shadow defence secretary Jim Murphy said: “The insurgents know that it doesn’t make any sense to take on well-trained French forces in conventional battle so they may come back in a way that’s very dangerous, extraordinarily violent.

“The Government has to be clear. Have they got a deal with the French, that French special forces and others would protect UK trainers?”